Someones cat is eating me chickens

[LadyLouie]

I now only have 2 hens left. this cat has taken 3 of my hens over the past month or two. The most recent being yesterday. He is super friendly, I know because I was hanging with him before he started taking them. The first one him and this other cat took. but the next two I think he took by himself. I have never seen any of these cats before and my rooster is not chasing them off. What can I do to keep him away? There is no body left over that I can find just feathers in one spot then they are gone..

 

[flyin-lowe]

Doesn't sound like the cat to me. You would see more evidence if it was a cat. I am guessing an aerial predator if all you are finding is some feathers and nothing else.

 

[keesmom]

I highly doubt it is the cat. A raptor would be a much more likely suspect.

 

[LadyLouie]

Alright thank you. Though I'm pretty sure they took the first one. But I'm still not sure because I just found a fresh animal hole with feathers close by. So I'll take extra precautions to keep the rest safe. Thanks again .

 

[Sessie]

I'm new to chickens, but a very old hand at cats. I have always had cats (5-1/2 decades), and done a LOT of cat rescue work over all that time, as well. I know cats. I have also worked with training big cats (lions & tigers), when I was much younger, faster, and not yet physically handicapped.

It doesn't sound at all like a cat.

*** *** *** *** ***
.

***** ***** ***** WARNING: SOME GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION FOLLOWS ***** ***** *****

.

*** *** *** *** ***
.

Cats don't dig or use holes. They also wouldn't leave only a few feathers and nothing else; you'd find all of the bones, probably the organs (or most of them), and other chicken body parts not too palatable to a cat, unless it was a truly starving cat. You'd know if the cat(s) you saw were that close to starvation. And such starving cats aren't that friendly, either. Besides, cats generally catch birds they can catch or hold in their mouths - although that's not an absolute. Most cats (domestic cats, that is) hunt birds smaller than full-sized chickens. Bantams might be another matter, however, if the cat is a large one. One of my cats - a feral I am still trying to tame & housebreak - catches grackles and similar sized wild birds sideways in her mouth - head sticking out one side of her mouth & feet sticking out of the other side - while they're flying, in mid-air. She just skyrockets up, straight up, like a helicopter, and does triple and quadruple back flips high in the air to position herself relative to the bird in flight, and somehow ends up with them sideways in her teeth. I've seen it hundreds of times, but still can't quite figure out how or what she does. Once the birds' wings are pinned, they are her meals - without fail.

My gut instinct is that your predator is not a cat. Not a domestic cat, that is… can't say for sure if it's a larger cat (bobcat, etc) - although I still doubt even that. Even they leave behind carcass leavings. As do carrion birds who feed on the spot but don't carry the carcass off.

 

[flyin-lowe]

Was the hole in an open area or under the edge of a building/structure. In my neck of the woods, skunks will dig under a building not out in the open. It sounds like you have found where your predator lives, now you need to get rid of it.

 

[LadyLouie]

Alright thank you Sessie, flyin-lowe the hole was under my old barn. It could be a skunk but do skunks come out during the day? That's when they get taken not at noght.

 

[Sessie]

Alright thank you Sessie, flyin-lowe the hole was under my old barn. It could be a skunk but do skunks come out during the day? That's when they get taken not at noght.

Yes, skunks can come out during the day (and not be rabid)!

My moron dog, Rufus, got very badly skunked back in June, in the mid-morning (maybe 9am-ish?) AND that was right before we moved rurally… he was in an inner city postage-stamp-sized back yard! The poor dog got his overhead trolly cable caught underneath the edge of my trailer - which was loaded with stuff we were already moving out here (very rural farm country) - and couldn't escape the darn mama skunk, who was hopping mad when he had tried to play with the new "cats". Unfortunately, we have black-and-white cats, and obviously this dog can't tell the difference between tuxedo cats and skunks. smh Rufus ended up living in the new country house's backyard for a couple of weeks, until I could stand to smell him again.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Skunks and Possums will come out in the day If there's food to be had.


That being said, neither are all that athletic, and have trouble catching awake, healthy birds. Your situation sounds "foxey" to me.

 

[LadyLouie]

Thanks for the help. Unfortunately whatever it was went into the coop at night and killed one in there right under their roosts and just left her there. He didn't even take the body she's torn open a little on her bottom but nothing major. I'm not sure of her breed but she is fairly smaller and the other three that died were golden comets I think(I've seen people call them that)but they also were not that big I have one hen left who is bigger along with three roosters(yes i know that's way to many for the number of hens)I've been trying to get rid of them... So it is taking the smaller ones. I'll deffinetely be Watching today and moving them somewhere safe tonight until I can get rid of whatever it is.